Review of Book Reviews from 2007 by RayS

Directions: The date at the beginning of each book is the date on which my review was published in this blog. Each review consists of three parts: 1. “Why read it?” 2. Sample ideas from the book, either paraphrased or quoted, and 3. Final, thought-provoking quotes. To locate the review, look at the “Blog Archive” at the right of the blog. Click on the year 2007. Find the month in which the review was published, click on it and go to the date of the review.

Thursday, September 13, 2007. The Passions of the Mind: A Novel of Sigmund Freud. Irving Stone. All right. It's a fictionalized biography of Freud, and not one of Stone's best, either. [His best fictionalized novel was Lust for Life on Vincent Van Gogh.] Freud often reads more like a textbook than a novel. But it does explain Freud's thought in readable prose so that ordinary people like me can understand his ideas. Freud suggested that childhood experiences significantly affected adult lives. Freud was viciously insulted for his work in describing the reality of human nature. Inhibitions are caused by repressed instinctual drives. Freud showed us how much of our rational lives is influenced by the unconscious.

Monday, September 17, 2007. Persuasion. Jane Austen. Novel. Note Jane Austen's humorous observation of the people in her social circle and her keen sense of the place of women in her society. The heroine, Anne Elliot, and her lover, Captain Wentworth, were engaged for eight years before the story begins but Anne broke the engagement in deference to family and friends—they didn't like him. Reunited, they fall in love again. Austen's impressions of the people around her are delightful.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007. The Pickwick Papers. Charles Dickens. The history of the Nimrod Club, the members of which go out shooting, fishing, etc., and get themselves into difficulty because of their lack of dexterity. In short, a club of klutzes. A mixture of wit and wisdom; the introduction of Sam Weller and his widow-hating father. The sheer joy in using language. Simply hilarious.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007. Poland. James A Michener. Novel. It's a novel, of course, but most of Michener's "novels" are really loaded with information about his topics, almost an encyclopedia, but told in story form. Michener is Polish and he wrote this novel to help people in the rest of the world understand the peculiar circumstances that makes Poland what it is—a country beset by large powers that have torn it apart, brutalized it, yet produced people of courage who never give up trying to live productive lives.

Thursday, September 20, 2007. Portrait of a Lady. Henry James. Novel. Henry James studies the relationships between the American character and Europeans. In this novel, Isabel Archer visits American relatives who have lived for a long time in Britain and who have adopted the British view of belief in a stratified society with special emphasis on proper manners. Isabel's American/British relatives enjoy observing her in action, watching to see how she deals with certain situations. Isabel is manipulated by the sophisticated and socially polished Madame Merle into marrying an aristocratic, impoverished aesthete who tries to control her after they are married. At first, Isabel rebels and leaves him, but then returns because of the marriage bonds.

Monday, October 1, 2007. Pensées. Blaise Pascal. The first half of Pascal’s Pensées is profound. At one point, I considered Pascal’s Pensées to be the counterpoint to Islam’s Koran, “the only book needed in the world.” The second half of the book, arguing that the Catholic Church is the answer to the conundrums and dilemmas of humanity, is interesting, but less profound.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007. Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen. Novel. Quite a few people say that Pride and Prejudice is their favorite novel. Austen’s view of marriage is both satirical and reverent. She makes fun of most veteran wedded couples who are, as is true in most marriages that I have observed, misfits, but the realities of marriage do not stop Elizabeth and Jane from seeing marriage as their ultimate goal for achieving happiness in life. Elizabeth represents prejudice; Darcy represents pride. Elizabeth thinks Darcy is an arrogant, aristocratic snob. Darcy thinks Elizabeth’s family—but not Elizabeth—is beneath his social standing as an aristocrat.

Thursday, October 4, 2007. Profiles in Courage. John F. Kennedy. This book puts political courage into the context of the forces with which politicians must concern themselves, including loss of their careers if they act courageously. This book is as much about the abuse that politicians suffered in public as it is the tenacity with which they voted according to conscience.

Monday, October 8, 2007. Ragtime. EL Doctorow. Novel. In this novel, Doctorow presents an impression of the ragtime era, the period before WWI. These were the “good old days.” With vivid prose and facts, Doctorow paints a picture of a raw society divided into a few very rich and many poor. It was the era of immigrants, slavery in the coal mines, women without equal rights and child labor. In this novel, you will gain a realistic view of just how “good” the “old days” were.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007. Essays and Lectures. Ralph Waldo Emerson. Why read it? Because Emerson will make you think. He writes in sentences, each sentence suggestive, freighted with ideas. His sentences are like a stone skipping across the pond—each idea leading to other ideas in never-ending concentric circles. He writes in prose but his images create poetry. When you read Emerson, be ready to think and to reflect for surprisingly long periods.